NFW to
critique manuscripts at July 14 meeting at Willowbranch Library

NFW
suspends dues indefinitely

ALMA offers $1,000 prize for best short story

The
Wrong Stuff – Howard Denson

Stuff
from Hither and Yon

Stuff
from a Writer's Quill – Anne Lamott

Writers
Born This Month

Meetings
of NFW and Other Groups

Useful
Links

The
Write Staff

Membership
Information

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Librarian
of Congress

appoints
Natasha Trethewey

19th
Poet Laureate

Natasha Trethewey has
been appointed as the Library
of Congress’ Poet Laureate Consultant in
Poetryfor 2012-2013, according to Chief LoC librarian James H. Billington.

She is the author of three poetry collections, including “Native Guard” (2006), winner
of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry; “Bellocq’s Ophelia” (2002);
and “Domestic Work”
(2000). Her newest collection of poems, ”Thrall,” is forthcoming from Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt in 2012. She is the au0thor of a nonfiction book, “Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the
Mississippi Gulf Coast”(2010).

Ms. Trethewey once served on the English faculty at Auburn University and
received an Alabama State Council on the Arts Literary Fellowship in 2000.

Trethewey succeeds Philip Levine as Poet Laureate and joins a
long line of distinguished poets who have served in the position, including
Richard Wilbur, W. S. Merwin, Kay Ryan, Charles Simic, Donald Hall, Ted
Kooser, Louise Glück, Billy Collins, Stanley Kunitz, Robert Pinsky, Robert
Hass, and Rita Dove.

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NFW to critique manuscripts

at July 14 meeting

at Webb Wesconnett Library

The
North Florida Writers members and guests will critique manuscripts at the July
14 meeting in the auditorium at the Webb Wesconnett Library. The meeting will
be at 2 p.m. Saturday. The public is welcome to attend.

For the
critiques, someone other than the author of respective works will read aloud
the submissions (up to 10 double-spaced pages of prose, and reasonable amounts
of poetry or lyrics). Authors may not defend their work, but they may attach
questions they would like answered (e.g., “Is the scene on the beach
convincing?”). Authors should listen to the words and rhythms of their
creations.

Webb
Wesconnett is located at the corner of 103rd Street and Harlow Boulevard
(to the east of I-95). Willowbranch is located in Riverside at 2875 Park St.,
Jax 32205, but, if you are unfamiliar with area, go to http://jpl.coj.net/lib/branches/wbb.html
and use MapQuest to find the easiest route there. The WB phone is 904.381.8490.
Tom & Betty’s is located in Roosevelt Square on US 17 (near the KFC and
Starbucks).

Future
meeting dates and locales:

Aug. 11
– 2 p.m., Tom & Betty’s meeting room, Roosevelt Square

Sept. 8
– 2 p.m., Willowbranch

Oct. 13
– 2 p.m., Webb Wesconnett

Nov. 10
– 2 p.m., Willowbranch

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NFW suspends

dues indefinitely

The
North Florida Writers has suspended its membership dues for an indefinite period.
The treasury has stabilized at a comfortable level, and the NFW does not have
any appreciable expenses. Members suspected we could go without dues for a
couple of years and perhaps more.

In the
meantime, anyone may attend and participate in the monthly meetings.

At the
beginning, our dues were $25 a year for individuals, $15 for students, and $40
for family membership. When we were settling on a simple $15 dues for everyone,
we recognized that we could discontinue payments. Also, in the beginning,
membership brought with it a $5 discount to the Florida First Coast Writers’
Festival and the Fall Festival for Writers at North Campus. Now, these
activities (plus Much Ado About Books) are defunct. In addition, the NFW also
awarded $300 a year to the winner of the Josiah Bancroft Novel Prize (a contest
that ended with the Writers’ Festival).

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ALMA offers $1,000 prize

for best short story

American Literary Merit Award is now accepting entries for the
2013 ALMA Short Story Contest. The ALMA contest offers first through third
prizes of $1,000, $100, and $50, with the registration fee being $15 (till Aug.
20) and then $20 till the Nov. 10 deadline. Entry stories must be limited to
3,000 words (computer word count).

For other entry guidelines and details, go to www.AmericanLiteraryMeritAward.com.
The website will also contain information about scholarships and Wendi
Christner’s award-winning story,

"Slapping the Surface."

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THE

WRONG

STUFF – FORENSIC GRAMMAR

By HOWARD DENSON

Follow
the link below to find where often sane and sensible writers (and editors) have
stumbled in their writing:

Ben
Yagoda, a professor of English and journalism at the University of Delaware,
suffers at the slings and arrows of rules (or beliefs) about when to use the
comma and whether “none are” is ever correct. Yagoda is the author of, among
other books, “The Sound on the Page: Style and Voice in Writing.”

Yagoda
also explores the death of an article, “the.” Many are no longer talking about
“going to the prom,” but more simply “going to prom .” Also disappearing are
the articles in “the Ukraine,” “the Congo,” and “the Sudan.”

His story,

our story

Simon Schama recalls a
long-ago production of “Henry V,” with the king being played by Richard Burton.
He notes that Shakespeare’s histories were not just the making of the Bard,
they were the making of the English too.

Thus I refute them:

Argyll and Bute Council

don't just censor little girls,

they also hate the English language

The
Argyll and Bute Council in the U.K. has become upset with the blog of a
nine-year-old girl (who was taking photos of the school cafeteria’s offering.
It issued a press release about its order for the girl to cease and desist. Tom
Chivers
looks at the language of the press release and goes all Dr. Samuel Johnson on
them.

Jen
Doll notes that Sue Shellenbarger wrote in the Wall Street Journal that
businesses are cracking down on lousy communications skills, especially bad
grammar and spelling. Says Doll: “People can't spell. They
can't write. They barely even know where to put a semi-colon. Gone are the days
when we clustered about Grandmother's knee to ask, in our wee tot voices,
‘What's an em-dash, Granny? How is it different from an en-dash, or our dear
friend, the hyphen?’”
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2012/06/grammar-dead-long-live-grammar-nerds/53749/

This
site creates a scenario in which you are asked to grade a paper by an
irritating student. Unfortunately, you aren’t just awarding a grade: You are
marking errors and correcting them. This is not for retired or long-time
English teachers since it’s what you are glad (or will be glad) to escape. http://www.gradinggame.com/

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STUFF FROM

A WRITER'S QUILL

To be a good writer, you not
only have to write a great deal but you have to care.You do not have to have a complicated moral
philosophy. But a writer always tries, I think, to be a part of the solution,
to understand a little about life and to pass this on.

- Anne Lamott

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WRITERS BORN IN JULY

To
check out the names of writers who were born this month, go to this website:

The
list includes novelists, poets, playwrights, nonfiction authors, writers for
the small and silver screen, and others.

Looking
for your favorite writer? Hit “find” at the website and type in your favorite’s
name. Keep scrolling to find writers born in other months.

With
misgivings, the list generally omits lyricists (to avoid the plethora of
garage-band guitarists who knock out a lyric in two minutes to go with a tune).
Often lyricists are accomplished in other writing areas and may cause their
inclusion (e.g., Bob Dylan, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter).

Some
writers fret about identity theft and only say they were born in, say, 1972.
Typically that means they don’t get included on a “born this day” list.
Recommendation: Writers may wish to create a “pen birthday”; that way, their
names stay on the public’s radar.

If
you see that we have omitted a writer, give us his or her name (and preferably
a way to verify the belly-button day).

THE CDS
PUBLICITY FREE WRITERS CRITIQUE GROUP: Meets twice monthly. The first
Tuesday of each month at the Mandarin Library on Kori Road from 6 to 8:30 p.m.,
and the third Saturday of the month at the Webb-Wesconnett Library at 103rd and
Harlow from 2 until 4 p.m. Everyone is welcome. For more information see our
website at http://CDSPublicity.com or call 904.343.4188.

FIRST
COAST CHRISTIAN WRITERS GROUP: Every Thursday, 6:45 p.m. at Charles
Webb-Wesconnett Library at the intersection of 103rd Street and Harlow
Boulevard. Email: Dalyn_2@yahoo.com or Tlsl72@yahoo.com.

Since
the NFW treasury is healthy, we have voted to suspend any dues payments,
possibly for a year or two. We are relying on e-mail and the website for most
communications, but, if you want to be added to the membership list (again for
free) for occasional mail-outs, send the following to the treasurer (see above
address).